Paris Olympics! Let the Games Begin!

Sunday July 28, 2024

We finally made it to Paris on Saturday after an unexpected delay getting there from Porto, Portugal.  Our first challenge was getting to our friend Nicolle’s apartment from the airport. Since prices for cars and ride shares had skyrocketed, Nicolle gave us directions for using public transportation to get to her place. And I am proud to say we successfully navigated that “game." A bus, a metro ride, and a short walk; and, we didn’t get lost. Score 1 for team KarenNancy!

Olympic Trivia

• In the Ancient Olympics the competitors competed naked - yikes!

• Women didn’t compete in the Olympics until 1900; and, finally this year, 50% of the athletes are women. Score 1 for gender equity!

Since we will be referencing different venues, here is a map of the venues in the Paris area.

Today’s Games

Rowing- Women’s Pairs

Location: St. Nautique Vaires-sur-Marne. (far right <east> on the map)

This is a beautiful location on the Marne river in the town of Vaires-sur-Marne

Highlights of Event - Originally we had not planned on going to any rowing events, but then we heard the daughter of friends would be competing in the Women's Pairs Rowing. So we got tickets! Azja Czajkowski is the daughter of John and Katrine Czajkowski, who some of you may know from Sweetwater. It was so exciting to see someone we knew competing in the Olympics!!! She and her partner came in 3rd in their heat, qualifying them for the semi-finals. Woohoo! Score 1 for Team USA and the Czajkowski family!

Football (soccer)

Location - Parc des Princes (bottom left quadrant on map)

Highlights of Event - The game we saw was Women's Football with Japan vs Brazil. Walking toward the stadium we saw a lot of Brazil fans wearing their team's colors, and they were certainly cheering loudly for their team before and during the game. The fans of the team from Japan were also cheering, and along with the music playing and the enthusiastic announcer the environment was really loud! (Karen's watch kept warning her that the environment was too loud.)

Keeping up the enthusiasm, the fans in the stadium kept the wave going for quite awhile! And the wave here was augmented by some behaviors that were new to me - a rythmic clapping to sped up as the wave got closer, and wiggling fingers while your arms are up and doing the wave.

The security at this game was intense. Probably in response to the problems that occurred at a Football game earlier in the week. As the game went on, more and more security arrived, until over 90 security guards and ushers surrounded the field to ensure no one ran out on the field during halftime, or after. And, in addition to the security on the field, there were officers at the entry points to the stadium, at the screening points, and just walking around the open spaces. Security is on high alert at all Olympic events. (And we're glad security was in full force - we felt safe!)

Look for all the security around the field:

As a former soccer player, to me (Karen) this game was really exciting! Brazil was favored to win, and it seemed like there were more fans for Brazil, but in the Olympic spirit, fans cheered just as loud for the team from Japan. Japan had four close attempts that missed the goal in the first half - Brazil had two missed attempts. With 2 minutes into the stoppage time in the first half, Japan got a penalty kick because of a hand ball in the goal area. The Brazil goalie saved the penalty attempt. The fans went wild!

Score at the end of the half was 0-0.

Two minutes into the second half, Brazil scored with a great assist! Again, the fans went wild! But the team from Japan did not give up nor give in. Over the next 39 minutes, Japan had six attempts on goal, but not one went in for the score. Then, with 2 minutes into the second half stoppage time, Japan had another penalty kick - this time they scored. Now the score was tied at 1-1, and the game was still in additional stoppage time. In the sixth minute of stoppage, Japan scored a goal to win the game! Although it was a disappointing loss for the favored team from Brazil, the fans went wild and everyone was happy and were thrilled for the team from Japan!

We just love the Olympic spirit displayed by both athletes and fans!

Score 1 for the fans!

And while we spent a lot of time enjoying sports today, we also enjoyed seeing an Eurasian Magpie, and eating French food!